Android Talkback reads text styles

[uloco]

Description

Reopening issue #55150 as it's still an existing problem in the latest react native version and the issue was closed without a proper fix.

Checkout my repro with a recent react native version.
It is just a <Text> component with no styles or anything

I also have provided a snack if you want to test it more easily with expo sdk 55
The snack is just the default snack template on sdk 55 stripped down to its basics with no dependencies.
https://snack.expo.dev/@uloco/expo-55-default-template

How to reproduce

• Connect to your real android device and enable TalkBack.
• Swipe right to select the first text element.
• The screen reader says "Start 48 pixels color black, ..."

Expected behavior

The screen reader should only read the text and don't add any style properties.

Steps to reproduce

1. Connect to your real android device and enable TalkBack.
2. Swipe right to select the first text element.
3. The screen reader says "Start 48 pixels color black, ..."

React Native Version

0.85.3

Affected Platforms

Runtime - Android

Output of npx @react-native-community/cli info

System:
  OS: macOS 26.4.1
  CPU: (8) arm64 Apple M1
  Memory: 181.42 MB / 16.00 GB
  Shell:
    version: "5.9"
    path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 18.17.1
    path: /Users/uloco/.local/state/fnm_multishells/36751_1779117177992/bin/node
  Yarn:
    version: 1.22.21
    path: /Users/uloco/.local/state/fnm_multishells/36751_1779117177992/bin/yarn
  npm:
    version: 9.6.7
    path: /Users/uloco/.local/state/fnm_multishells/36751_1779117177992/bin/npm
  Watchman:
    version: 2026.05.11.00
    path: /opt/homebrew/bin/watchman
Managers:
  CocoaPods: Not Found
SDKs:
  iOS SDK:
    Platforms:
      - DriverKit 25.4
      - iOS 26.4
      - macOS 26.4
      - tvOS 26.4
      - visionOS 26.4
      - watchOS 26.4
  Android SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
  Android Studio: 2025.3 AI-253.31033.145.2533.15176040
  Xcode:
    version: 26.4.1/17E202
    path: /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
  Java:
    version: 17.0.19
    path: /usr/bin/javac
  Ruby: Not Found
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli": Not Found
  react: Not Found
  react-native: Not Found
  react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
  "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
  hermesEnabled: Not found
  newArchEnabled: Not found
iOS:
  hermesEnabled: Not found
  newArchEnabled: Not found

Stacktrace or Logs

no stacktrace or log

MANDATORY Reproducer

#56872

Screenshots and Videos

No response

[danyalahmed1995]

@uloco I opened #56881 to address this.

I was able to trace the issue to the Android text accessibility delegate exposing the rendered Spanned text object through AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.text. Since React Native attaches visual spans such as size/color spans during text construction, TalkBack can end up announcing those styling details instead of only the visible text.

The PR keeps the rendered/source text unchanged, but normalizes the host accessibility node text to plain text when it is backed by a Spanned.

I also added focused coverage for:

• standard styled Text
• prepared-layout text
• preserving explicit contentDescription
• preserving source clickable/style spans on the rendered text

I verified the test fails with the production fix reverted and passes after restoring the fix. I could not manually validate TalkBack on a device/emulator in this session, so I called that out in the PR body.

[andrea-martinez-dev]

@uloco may I ask you what physical device are you using?

In one of my app I received a similar feedback lamenting layout and position were announced, but it happened on a OnePlus Nord 2T with Android 14 and I could not replicate the problem on an updated Google Pixel 8 Pro / 10 Pro, so I suspected it was due to the device or a custom implementation of screen reder announcements, since that device also presented additional strange behaviors when using the screen reader (like the green selection of the current element not exactly in place or quirks in the accessibility order).

Unfortunatley I am still waiting for a retest and confirmation of my suspect, so it's just a (strong) hypothesis at the moment.

[uloco]

I am testing on a physical Google Pixel 9a on Android 16

[danyalahmed1995]

Okay so i did the test from my PR on a "physical" device

Tested Device:

• Device: OPPO CPH2219
• Android: 13
• RNTester debug build from this PR branch
• TalkBack enabled
• Metro running over USB with adb reverse tcp:8081 tcp:8081

Manual validation:

• Installed and launched RNTester on the device.
• Navigated through RNTester with TalkBack focus enabled.
• Verified TalkBack focus works across the Components, APIs, Playground, Image, and AccessibilityAndroid examples.
• Verified styled/text-heavy RNTester examples remain focus able.
• Verified clickable/link-style examples still expose focus able targets.
• Verified the app continued running without crashing during the TalkBack navigation pass.

This gives a device-level smoke test for the safety side of the change: the PR only normalizes the host accessibility node text, while rendered/source text remains available for visual rendering and clickable/link handling.

Attached some screenshots and the log(sanitized) from the test sessions.

rn-tester-talkback-sanitized-log.txt

[uloco]

@danyalahmed1995 please stop the slop. everybody knows you are AI and have no value to add. stop spamming the issue with your nonsense. i am waiting for replies from actual contributors / members of the repo.

[danyalahmed1995]

@uloco I attached the evidence report for what you are calling "slop" , if you need drama you are on the wrong platform meta also offers facebook you should try your luck there or if you are gonna use some swear words I suggest twitter (x) would be a good fit for it.

Is that response ai slop too ?